Johnny Nitro - S.F. blues guitarist - dies

JOHNNY NITRO 1951-2011

Published 4:00 am, Monday, February 21, 2011

San Francisco bluesman Johnny Nitro, seen in this 2007 photo, passed away on Saturday, February 19, 2011.

San Francisco bluesman Johnny Nitro, seen in this 2007 photo, passed away on Saturday, February 19, 2011.

Photo: Gail Giovanni, SFC

Johnny Nitro - S.F. blues guitarist - dies

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Johnny Nitro's life ended like one of his gigs: in an old North Beach bar, on a Saturday night, surrounded by fans.

Mr. Nitro, whose raspy voice and low-down rhythm guitar made him a beloved fixture in the Bay Area blues scene, died Saturday evening in his apartment upstairs from the Saloon on Grant Avenue, where he performed regularly for decades.

"The paramedics came. It was chaos. But when they brought his body down wrapped in a white sheet, everyone just got quiet and started applauding. It was amazing," said Futoshi Morioka, a San Francisco guitarist who was playing at the Saloon when Mr. Nitro died.

"We finished the set because Johnny would have wanted that," Morioka said. "But then we played Bill Withers' 'Lean on Me' in his honor. I just played my heart out for him."

Mr. Nitro, 59, had been suffering from heart disease and diabetes for several years. In December, he collapsed onstage and was hospitalized for several days but was back performing the next weekend, said Burton Winn of San Anselmo, the bassist for Mr. Nitro's band, the Doorslammers.

"We've lost an institution," Winn said. "When he played, it was like he was in your living room, talking directly to you. He's irreplaceable."

Despite his health problems, Mr. Nitro was among the most tireless musicians in the Bay Area, his friends and colleagues said. He played several nights a week, taught at the Blue Bear School of Music at Fort Mason and mentored dozens of younger musicians.

"I'm 10 years younger than him, and he would wear my ass out," said Kathy Tejcka of Benicia, who played keyboard for the Doorslammers. "He rocked."

Mr. Nitro, whose real name was John Newton, grew up in Sacramento. When he was 13, he saved his lunch money and bought his first guitar from a pawn shop, teaching himself to play by listening to friends' B.B. King records.

A scholarship to the San Francisco Art Institute brought him to North Beach in the 1970s, and, since then, he rarely left. He lived for a while in a 1947 panel truck and worked as a car mechanic to make ends meet.

For a short time, he worked at Sears Point and other raceways.

"I was the guy who mixed the fuel, so I was Nitro Man," he told The Chronicle in 2006, explaining the origins of his stage name.

Mr. Nitro performed with stars such as Albert Collins and Albert King, and released several albums. Collins covered one of Mr. Nitro's original songs, "Dirty Dishes."

Like most blues artists, Mr. Nitro loved to tell a good story. Onstage at the Saloon, he'd chat with the audience, flirt with women, tell jokes and keep the crowd - which typically included local regulars and tourists from around the world - dancing all night.

"His presence onstage was irresistible," Morioka said. "He could just stand there holding his guitar but had so much charisma."